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The record was made when Pete Stennett, owner of Small Wonder Records, heard a demo that the band had recorded. Impressed by all of the material, he decided that rather than release a conventional single by the band, he would put all of their set onto an 18-track 12" EP. However, problems were encountered when workers at the Irish pressing plant contracted to manufacture the record refused to handle it due to the allegedly blasphemous content of the track "Reality Asylum" (referred to as "Asylum" on the record sleeve). The record was eventually released with this track removed and replaced by two minutes of silence, retitled "The Sound of Free Speech". This incident also prompted Crass to set up their own record label in order to retain full editorial control over their material, and "Reality Asylum" was issued shortly afterwards in a re-recorded and extended form as a 7" single. A later repress of The Feeding of The 5000 (subtitled The Second Sitting) released on Crass records in 1980 restored the missing track.[citation needed]

The song "They've Got a Bomb" also has a period of silence within it, inspired by John Cage's "4'33"". The band have acknowledged the influence of Cage, and said that the idea of the space in the song, when performed live, was to suddenly stop the energy, dancing and noise and allow the audience to momentarily "confront themselves" and consider the reality of nuclear war. However, that was not always the case: on the live version of "They've Got a Bomb" on Stations of the Crass, the audience can be heard clapping.[citation needed]

"The feeding of the five thousand" is a well-known phrase in Christian tradition, being the name of a Biblical miracle in which a small amount of food is said to have fed 5,000 people. According to the band's drummer and spokesperson, Penny Rimbaud, "We named the album The Feeding of The Five Thousand because 5,000 was the minimum number that we could get pressed and some 4900 more than we thought we'd sell. Feeding is now only a few hundred short of going golden, though I don't suppose we'll hear too much about that in the music press".[2]

On 16 August 2010, The Feeding of the 5000 was rereleased as the first volume of The Crassical Collection. As well as being digitally remastered from the original analogue studio tapes, the release also contains additional artwork by Gee Vaucher, bonus material and a 64-page booklet of lyrics and liner notes by Rimbaud and Steve Ignorant.[3]